3 ms·

Go back and watch a VHS tape recording of an over-the-air broadcast TV show. You will be amazed at how colossally crappy the quality of it is because you're no

by 300bps 13y ago

Go back and watch a VHS tape recording of an over-the-air broadcast TV show. You will be amazed at how colossally crappy the quality of it is because you're now used to various levels of high-def TV. The quality we get used to is only going to go up from here. Beyond that, look at Netflix's recommendations today: https://support.netflix.com/en/node/306 https://support.netflix.com/en/node/306 To get 1080p streaming, you need 7 Mbps. To get 3D you need 12 Mbps. Now imagine you are streaming one 1080p show from Netflix, your wife is streaming another on a different device, your son's Minecraft server has 19 kids from school attached to it, your daughter is watching HD YouTube videos and your main computer is downloading Windows 8.1 updates. That's why I have 75 M/bps downstream and 35 M/bps upstream through Verizon FIOS anyway. That and it was $74.99 per month including their Prime TV lineup and unlimited landline phone service.

nkurz 13y ago
Go back and watch a VHS tape recording of an over-the-air broadcast TV show. You will be amazed at how colossally crappy the quality of it is because you're now used to various levels of high-def TV. The quality we get used to is only going to go up from here. I agree with your conclusion, but not necessarily your reasoning. By contrast, when I watch an actual DVD, it makes me wonder why we put up with the awful compression artifacts of most streaming video. Instead, I might argue that we need higher bandwidth just to get back to where we were, and then will need even more to get to the point where transmission speed is not the limiting factor. and unlimited landline phone service Again, the wonders of modern compression technology. It's amazing that "landline phone" is still considered a step up from VOIP, and yet it is!
- toomuchtodo 13y ago
  Don't cellular providers now support wideband audio calls with certain handsets? For example, the Nexus 5 and iPhone 5(c|s) on T-mobile. How does wideband audio compare to a land line? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wideband_audio http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wideband_audio
  - thrownaway2424 13y ago
    Traditional digital voice telephony is astonishingly good compared to anything we now use on mobiles. The problem with mobile has never been with the bandwidth, it's the packet loss. You can have as wide a band as you want but if you are dropping half the frames or they arrive at random times then it still sounds like shit. Isochronous circuit switching basically works perfectly, as long as the path can be established (busy signal is the failure mode here). On VoIP with a good low loss path you can get amazing quality too. Skype for example sounds even better than digital circuit switched telephony.

by 300bps 13y ago

nkurz 13y ago

Go back and watch a VHS tape recording of an over-the-air broadcast TV show. You will be amazed at how colossally crappy the quality of it is because you're now used to various levels of high-def TV. The quality we get used to is only going to go up from here. I agree with your conclusion, but not necessarily your reasoning. By contrast, when I watch an actual DVD, it makes me wonder why we put up with the awful compression artifacts of most streaming video. Instead, I might argue that we need higher bandwidth just to get back to where we were, and then will need even more to get to the point where transmission speed is not the limiting factor. and unlimited landline phone service Again, the wonders of modern compression technology. It's amazing that "landline phone" is still considered a step up from VOIP, and yet it is!

toomuchtodo 13y ago
Don't cellular providers now support wideband audio calls with certain handsets? For example, the Nexus 5 and iPhone 5(c|s) on T-mobile. How does wideband audio compare to a land line? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wideband_audio http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wideband_audio
- thrownaway2424 13y ago
  Traditional digital voice telephony is astonishingly good compared to anything we now use on mobiles. The problem with mobile has never been with the bandwidth, it's the packet loss. You can have as wide a band as you want but if you are dropping half the frames or they arrive at random times then it still sounds like shit. Isochronous circuit switching basically works perfectly, as long as the path can be established (busy signal is the failure mode here). On VoIP with a good low loss path you can get amazing quality too. Skype for example sounds even better than digital circuit switched telephony.